Some 100,000 expected at free-Iran mass rally in Berlin in solidarity with nationwide uprising

Some 100,000 people are expected to gather in the German capital, Berlin, on Saturday for a major demonstration in support of the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising and their struggle for democratic change, German Solidarity Committee for a Free Iran (DSFI), a group comprised of German politicians from various parties announced in a statement on Thursday. That would make the protest the biggest rally by Iranians in Europe.

The participants will converge at the Brandenburg Gate (Platz des 18. März) on 7 February, beginning at 1:30pm CET. The rally coincides with the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 anti-monarchical revolution and takes place amid ongoing repression inside Iran, where nationwide protests were met with lethal force and widespread arrests. Thousands were killed, including hundreds of women and children.

The Berlin demonstration is backed by an unusually broad coalition: 344 organizations and political figures, including parliamentary friendship groups, trade unions, and civil-society actors from across Europe, alongside 312 Iranian associations based on the continent.

According to DSFI, the rally aims to amplify the voice of Iranians who have rejected both clerical rule and a return to monarchical dictatorship. Speakers and participants are expected to emphasize that while the regime in Tehran has been seriously weakened, it will not collapse on its own—and that foreign military intervention offers no solution. Prominent American and European politicians as well as German dignitaries are among the speakers.

“The message is clear,” DSFI said. “Democratic change in Iran can only be achieved by the Iranian people themselves and their organized resistance inside the country, which has been confronting repression, including the forces of the Revolutionary Guards.”

The strong turnout of Iranian expatriates, together with German citizens, is intended as a visible expression of solidarity with protesters and resistance activists inside Iran who Iranian activists note, have rejected both monarchy and theocracy and are risking their lives for a free, democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran.

The rally will also be marked by a tribute to the late Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Bundestag and Honorary Chair of the DSFI. Süssmuth was among the original sponsors and supporters of the Berlin rally and had planned to attend in person.

In a statement prior to her passing, she underscored her support for Iran’s democratic opposition: “Courageous women and men in Iran deserve our full support. Their resistance is legitimate and necessary against a regime that allows no reforms at all. In the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of democratic forces opposed to any form of dictatorship, we see a democratic alternative. It is time for Europe to take these forces seriously.”